Political leaders in St. Petersburg are about to vote on law that will make it illegal for any person to write a book, publish an article or speak in public about being gay, lesbian or transgender. The ruling party led by President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin could make millions of people invisible with the stroke of a pen.
Human rights defenders around the country are doing everything they can to stop it. They are risking their freedom to organize flashmobs and protests, but they are afraid that it won’t be enough.
Right now, the world needs to speak up and tell Russian authorities to drop the bill. Join this call to leaders around the world to reach out to their counterparts in the Russian government - and ask them to reject this discriminatory and anti-democratic law.
i don’t know what you homophobes have to be scared about.
You left off the part where people start marrying animals. Because that would clearly happen.
BUT IT’S A SIN AND THEY’LL GO TO HELL HUR HUR.
I dunno, if the homophobes believe gay people will go to hell, what is it to them? Wouldn’t it be great for them since they don’t have to share their lovely oh-so-perfect heaven with gay people?
(Source: juhcohboh, via dumb-american)
7 Year Old Transgender
What really gets me in the original post is the fact that they said, “Senator Reid’s ham-fisted attempt to get his grandchildren front row concert tickets,” What? How…? Because he tweeted her ‘We did it’? She’s been an active supporter therefore gaining small acknowledgement in the fight, I doubt it was only him that tweeted her those words, he just happened to be a senator.
Most of the Tumblr community has been supportive of repealing DADT, and by using this argument it’s claiming that none of our support matters. It’s just like claiming the activism any celebrity has done over the years doesn’t matter. In fact, their support matters more so because they bring light on the issues at hand. Celebrities are proud that our country is free of a battle that LGBTQ soldiers have overcame. Let them be happy for God’s sake. We should all be happy.
I agree with “We should all be happy.”
I don’t think raising awareness doesn’t matter, however I think doing more than raising awareness matters more. It’s my belief that most people tend to think that raising voices are enough, which is clearly wrong.
I just hope people do as much as they can, not only tweet or post their support on the internet. And as for the original article, it was clearly not a good article (lack of citation or facts, more personal opinion from the writer).
(Source: jezebel.com)
Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Tweeted “WE DID IT” to Lady Gaga and Gaga in turn reported she cried tears of joy over the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal’s passage in the Senate. Oh, brother.
In response to Senator Reid’s ham-fisted attempt to get his grandchildren front row concert tickets, Lady Gaga responded,
“Can’t hold back the tears+pride. We did it!i Our voice was heard + today the Senate REPEALED DADT. A triumph for equality after 17 YEARS”
With all due respect to a woman who can walk in heels designed for a race of crab-people and almost sort of rock a dress made of meat: This is not about you. Aside from the fact that Gaga seems to think America’s history of violating the rights of gay people only extends back to the inception of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in 1993, when she was a seven year old girl, the DADT ruling is a watershed moment for American gays because it means that servicemembers no longer have to lie in order to serve their country. The repeal of DADT belongs to the people who were oppressed by it, not by a crying pop star, and there comes a time when even the most attention-seeking of us owe it to the cause to sit back and let other people enjoy their victory.
Gaga wasn’t alone in crowing over the victory as though a whole new world of freedom is now available to her. Katy “Lesbianism As Straight Male Entertainment” Perry also had to get in on the action, Tweeting,
“SUPPORTING ALL OUR TROOPS! RT @Pink: Congrats 2 US!!! REPEAL of DADT & 17 years of allowing Human Rights Violations. There’s hope after all!”
Yes, Katy Perry. There’s hope for you, after all. Hope that gay people will forget that you wrote, recorded, and perform a song that uses the word “gay” as an insult and start buying your albums. (At least she could have been clever with her response to the repeal, maybe saying something like “I kissed a girl & I liked it & now that girl is joining the Marines.” Or something. Be better, Katy Perry!)
I don’t begrudge celebrities for adopting causes; fighting for social justice is an honorable way to use one’s fame to promote the greater good and give voice to the voiceless, but it’s one thing to work to support a cause and it’s another thing to co-opt it. Katy Perry and Lady Gaga are cis white women who, quite frankly would not have their daily lives affected in any way, shape, or form had the DADT repeal failed. Their internet-professed tears of joy and victory sound a lot like an obnoxious attempt to do the equivalent of photobomb a seriously important victory for gay Americans.
Yesterday saw a victory for human rights, and today is a great day for everyone except John McCain, Maude Flanders, and the Grinch to feel unfamiliarly warm, fuzzy feelings about our legislative branch. Today is a day for members of America’s military to know that the end of hiding who they are in order to keep their jobs is within sight. Today is not a day for people who were not personally oppressed by Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to make it about themselves, although I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that they are.
Oooh that burns.
There’s a problem with this argument. They’re not really making it about themselves. They’ve been activists for the cause. Straight or not. They’ve been voices in the fight. Lady GaGa seemed pretty passionate about it, to be honest.
They don’t say “we did it” because they were sufferers, they say “we did it” because they were on the same team. It’s unbelievably arrogant to suggest just the gay folk won this battle alone. Guess what? You didn’t win it alone. This is a time for all people to celebrate, not to argue about such pointless trivialities. You probably could have reached this same result without Lady GaGa or Katy Perry, sure. However, why would you step on their toes now after all they did was offer support? Whoever wrote this completely missed the point.
We won’t know whether their “supporting” tweets were only to gain media attention or if they actually support homosexual equality. I don’t live in the USA and I know even less. However, it’s not unusual for celebrities (and people in general) to join the slacktivism bandwagon to gain attention.
Did Gaga & Perry actually support equality by doing something other than tweeting or making statements on the media? Perhaps by getting involved in rallies, supporting AIDS research, etc.? Speaking for a good cause is nice but acting for one is what’s really needed. Raising awareness is nice, but people are mostly aware already, you need to do something more significant than that.
In other case, I’m glad about the repeal. I’m not going to say it’s “my” or “our” victory because 1) I’m not gay and 2) I’m not a US citizen, there is little I can do to support homosexual equality in my own country, much less in the US. I’m just glad that people don’t have to hide their identity to serve their country. I’m glad that at least one sound decision had been made that day.
(via dumb-american)
Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Tweeted “WE DID IT” to Lady Gaga and Gaga in turn reported she cried tears of joy over the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal’s passage in the Senate. Oh, brother.
In response to Senator Reid’s ham-fisted attempt to get his grandchildren front row concert tickets, Lady Gaga responded,
“Can’t hold back the tears+pride. We did it!i Our voice was heard + today the Senate REPEALED DADT. A triumph for equality after 17 YEARS”
With all due respect to a woman who can walk in heels designed for a race of crab-people and almost sort of rock a dress made of meat: This is not about you. Aside from the fact that Gaga seems to think America’s history of violating the rights of gay people only extends back to the inception of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in 1993, when she was a seven year old girl, the DADT ruling is a watershed moment for American gays because it means that servicemembers no longer have to lie in order to serve their country. The repeal of DADT belongs to the people who were oppressed by it, not by a crying pop star, and there comes a time when even the most attention-seeking of us owe it to the cause to sit back and let other people enjoy their victory.
Gaga wasn’t alone in crowing over the victory as though a whole new world of freedom is now available to her. Katy “Lesbianism As Straight Male Entertainment” Perry also had to get in on the action, Tweeting,
“SUPPORTING ALL OUR TROOPS! RT @Pink: Congrats 2 US!!! REPEAL of DADT & 17 years of allowing Human Rights Violations. There’s hope after all!”
Yes, Katy Perry. There’s hope for you, after all. Hope that gay people will forget that you wrote, recorded, and perform a song that uses the word “gay” as an insult and start buying your albums. (At least she could have been clever with her response to the repeal, maybe saying something like “I kissed a girl & I liked it & now that girl is joining the Marines.” Or something. Be better, Katy Perry!)
I don’t begrudge celebrities for adopting causes; fighting for social justice is an honorable way to use one’s fame to promote the greater good and give voice to the voiceless, but it’s one thing to work to support a cause and it’s another thing to co-opt it. Katy Perry and Lady Gaga are cis white women who, quite frankly would not have their daily lives affected in any way, shape, or form had the DADT repeal failed. Their internet-professed tears of joy and victory sound a lot like an obnoxious attempt to do the equivalent of photobomb a seriously important victory for gay Americans.
Yesterday saw a victory for human rights, and today is a great day for everyone except John McCain, Maude Flanders, and the Grinch to feel unfamiliarly warm, fuzzy feelings about our legislative branch. Today is a day for members of America’s military to know that the end of hiding who they are in order to keep their jobs is within sight. Today is not a day for people who were not personally oppressed by Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to make it about themselves, although I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that they are.
Oooh that burns.
(via thefrontierwaseverywhere)
Akasha Adonis and her mother of Humboldt, TN made their way to one of four entrances where there was no line. As they were entering the store, a girl from another entrance where there was a line ran up to Akasha’s mother and another woman and attempted to ram through them into the store. When Akasha stepped between the girl and her mother to protect her, the girl jumped into Akasha’s face and began cussing at her. At the same moment, a man attacked Akasha and another woman at the entrance. The assailant hit Akasha and pulled out her hair as he pulled her through the door into the store. The man then shoved his hand in her mouth with his thumb, tore three of her teeth out of socket, and broke her jaw as he forced Akasha to the ground. The assailant then stood up and walked into the store to shop as Kohl’s staff stood idly by greeting other shoppers.
Officer Ashley M. McCullar interviewed Akasha, her mother, and the woman who was attacked. At first, Officer McCullar treated Akasha with respect. But Akasha noticed a marked change in attitude towards her when the officer learned she was transgender (Akasha’s photo I.D. lists her name as Johnathan Quick):
When the officer first arrived on the scene and asked about the assault, he addressed me as she then asked for my i.d. and my name. [When] the officer saw that it was a male name, and I was a male to female transexual, he immediately changed his demeanor in how he treated me and the other witnesses. He rolled his eyes and turned his back to not look at me and said that he had ‘other places to be.’ There was no more conversation directed to me but to fellow officers and [other] people. He was short and rude/dismissive to witnesses and to the officers I was the ‘He not She.’ The officer told my mother that the case would take a few days to write up and he would get the surveillance tape and then walked away. In the officer report he put in that “the black male then defended himself and put Quick in his place.”
After learning that Akasha was transsexual, Akasha states that the officer made no real attempt to apprehend the suspect nor cared to view the surveillance video knowing that the suspect had not yet left the store.
Akasha’s mother posted about the incident on her Facebook page. A Kohl’s employee posted a comment in response which read: “no it happened before I got there. i got there at 5 AM. they said it was a guy and a guy dressed up as a woman . they said the he/she/it got its wig knocked off and some teeth knocked out.” The employee may not have realized that Akasha’s mother was relating an incident about her own child. The employee later deleted the comment from Facebook, but the comment was preserved in a forwarded Facebook email.
